Messages

Argentinas big guns just did not shine.  Messi tried a bit but to no avail.

How would anyone rate them in comparrison with Dublin?

Just watched the whole game there now on Eurosport2.  Marty seemed to be deployed in the full back line.  He did ok, wasnt exactly outstanding, but did the simple things well and tackled well.  Had one nightmare moment though when the ball took an awkward bounce and went right over his head for a Geelong goal.  But all in all a steady preformance.  Future looks bright for him and the commentators love him!

After yesterdays convincing victory of a highly rated Mayo side, and the victory over Armagh, do Derry represent the biggest challenge to the top 2 teams in the country (Tyrone and Kerry).

Or would the Dubs, Cork or Donegal have somthing to say about that? 

It could also be said that there is a major gap between the top 2 and the rest?

I was hoping Mexico would win as I ill be in Mexico City on Sunday when the final is on.
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Ull get to see Dublin play Laois then too

Brazil beat Urauguy on penalties.  Uraguay will feel sick, they dominated the 2nd half and had a great chance to win the shootout, but they hit the post on the vital kick.  Mexico playing the Argies as i speak.  Hoping for the top 2 pairing in the final.

Thanks for the support southdown. Why did Down struggle so badly against meath? They seem to be way behind the likes of armagh, tyrone and derry despite the countys great pedigree. Surely a county of Down's size should be producing better results than that witnessed last saturday.

Down lost because they had no real game plan. Meath play a direct game with a straight forward long ball into the full forward line, while Down messed about with the ball. That was the striking difference between the 2 sides.

Aregentina were a joy to watch against Peru.  In my opinion there is no classier midfield player in the world than Riquelme, he just oozes class, and scored 2 more goals against Peru. Also good to see Tevez looking lively. 

Anyone have details of the remaining fixtures?

As a Down man I wish Fermanagh all the best against Meath.  As another poster has pointed out, the perception in Down is that Meath are very beatable.  They only beat Down by 5 points, after Downs worst display in a decade.  The main danger man against Down was Peadar Barry, the number 12, pure pace.  The 2 midfielders were huge but not overly mobile, and there build up play was generally slow.  Hope you can do the 6 counties proud!

Spirit, you are probably right about Ambrose being allowed to play so that he can get metch practice.  But the fact the 2 Bryansford men who were probably not going to feature in the county game were not allowed to play shows how contradictory the system is.  The CB should review the starred system, if its OK for Tyrone players to be playing club games close to a County game, then it should be OK for Down to do the same. It doesnt seem to be doing Tyrone any harm - it could even make the players a bit sharper for the upcoming County game.

How many wides had we? 17/18? The thing is we were crap and could have won this game.
Just a couple of points regarding Mourne Rovers post. I agree with a lot of it, but to me McGovern is not county standard at all. Aidan Carr, is not a CHF, his man scored 3 points tonight. If he is to play in the half forward line then it should be on the wing.
I think its timw to introduce more of the 2005 minor team, too many of the current set up arent interested. They have had their chance.

Who should be introduced?  Surely if any of these lads are good enough they would have had their chance already?

Correct me if I wrong, but did Kerry once have jersey made by Adidias, only to be told that they had to wear jerseys made by Irsih companies??

I think the National League has to be taken more seriosuly.  This year the management traeted the league in the same way that most managers would treat the McKenna cup. Too much experimenting  and switching meant that the team could not settle and the results spoke for themselves.  You cannot have a poor league campaign and then think that the team will automatically gel come championship time.  The team needs some consistency so that the team can build.  Even before todays game people were guessing in the stand what team was actually going to start.

[POSITIVES]

Went to newry full of optmism.  Came home frustrated and dissapointed.

POSITIVES

Very few to be honest, but I feel Dan Gordon showed well, and Clarke was probably our most solid defender.  Thats all the positives I can think of.

NEGATIVES

The forwards messed about with the ball and were always running into trouble.  On the other hand Meath seemed to be a lot  more direct and seemed to getting there scores a lot more efficiently.

The defence was utterly woeful.  Dodgey under the high ball, alwas behind there men, always prone to loosing possession easily.  In the first 20 minutes there was period when our backs were gaining possession, the aimlessly clearing the ball straight to Meath attackers.  None of the backs seemed comfortable on the ball, which was evident from the number of times the ball was played back to Brendan McViegh.

1 score from play.  Enough said.

The fact that the Meath CHB scored 3 points from play speaks volumes.

Benny Coulter just was not effective.  i dont know why he has not preformed well lately but something is obviously not right.  Maybe he is a marked man now, who knows.

In general we were not direct enough, couldnt take our chances and never really troubled Meath at all.  Fair play to Meath, good luck in the next round.

On another note, tell the County Board to get some decent batteries for the microphone, that poor woman singing the anthom must have been shi**ing herself!

Taken from BBC:

Down 0-8 1-10 Meath 


Down's Championship campaign ended with a five-point defeat at the hands of Meath in Newry on Saturday night.
The opening score from Benny Coulter proved to be Down's only score from play as they relied on free-taker Aidan Carr for all their other points.

Meath enjoyed a 1-4 to four points lead at the interval with Peadar Byrne finding the net on 12 minutes.

Centre-back Anthony Moyles and forward Stephen Bray scored three points each for the Royal County.

So the end of the road for Down, but a victory for Meath at the end of a troubled week.

With star forward Graham Geraghty axed after a training ground bust-up, Shane O'Rourke came in a full-forward for his Championship debut.

The 19-year-old, son of former Meath star Colm O'Rourke, scored a point in each half and helped set up Byrne's goal.

Down tried to rally towards the end but their forwards were having an off day and chalked up 14 wides on the night.